The Canon PowerShot Elph 115 IS compact camera isn't the best performer, but budget-minded shooters will appreciate its size and zoom range.

The Canon PowerShot Elph 115 IS ($169.99 direct) is the least expensive model in the Elph series, a line of cameras that have historically been known for solid build quality and compact dimensions. It packs an 8x lens into a svelte body, but its 16-megapixel CCD sensor leaves a bit to be desired when compared with more expensive models that capture images using CMOS technology. It's also a little pricey in comparison to our Editors' Choice budget camera, the Canon PowerShot A1400, especially when you consider that the two models offer similar image quality and performance.

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Design and Features The 115 IS is very compact, measuring just 2.1 by 3.7 by 0.9 inches (HWD) and weighing just 3.7 ounces. It can be had in blue, pink, silver, or black. As small as it is, the Elph isn't the tiniest camera we've tested; Nikon's Coolpix S01 is a mere 2.1 by 3.1 by 0.7 inches and a bit lighter at 3.4 ounces. That camera doesn't offer nearly as many control options as the Elph, which offers a Program mode in addition to fully automatic shooting.

The lens is an 8x design; it covers a 28-224mm (35mm equivalent) focal range, which is a useful one. The aperture is modest, opening up to f/3.2 at the widest angle and dwindling all the way to f/6.9 when zoomed all the way in. When you factor in the camera's relatively poor performance at high ISO settings you are left with a compact camera that's best used in brighter light. The lens is stabilized, so you should be able to get away with longer shutter speeds when shooting static subjects, but you'll have to ask people to be still when trying to get a shot in dimmer light without the flash. The Canon PowerShot Elph 330 HS is a bit more expensive and its 10x lens also struggles to capture light when zoomed all the way; it makes up for it by performing much better at higher ISO settings, which made it our Editors' Choice winner among mid-level pocket cameras.

Even though there's no full manual shooting mode, there are enough physical controls to keep veteran shooters happy, but not so much that novice snapshooters will be intimidated. A toggle switch changes between Automatic and Program shooting. There are physical controls to make your photos brighter or darker with exposure compensation, to enable or disable the flash, and to activate macro shooting. You can also set the ISO, change the white balance, and adjust the light metering pattern. If you opt to shoot in Automatic mode you'll only be able to enable or disable the flash; other shooting controls are disabled.

The rear LCD is a little small at 2.7 inches. Its resolution is 230k dots, which is also on the low side, even for a camera at this price point. The Elph 130 IS sells for about $30 more and features a larger 3-inch LCD with a 460k-dot resolution. The lower resolution display is noticeably grainer and details can be hard to make out, especially when you're reviewing images to confirm they are sharply focused and free of blur.

Performance and Conclusions Be prepared to wait a bit when shooting with the Elph 115 IS. It requires 1.9 seconds to start and take a shot, and there's a long 1.4-second wait between shots. The shutter lag is acceptable at 0.2 seconds. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX80 is also slow to start at just about 2 seconds, but can grab a 10-shot burst of photos at about 6.7 frames per second and manages to cut its shutter lag to 0.1 seconds.

I used Imatest to measure just how sharp the photos captured by the Elph 115 IS are. We consider a photo to be sharp if it scores 1,800 lines per picture height using a center-weighted score on our SFR Plus test chart. The Elph does just a bit better than this, notching 1,871 lines. It's a perfectly fine score, better than the 1,755 lines that the Samsung DV150F managed.

Imatest also checks photos for noise, which is most noticeable when the sensitivity to light (ISO) is increased. If a photo is made up of more than 1.5 percent noise it appears grainy and minute details start to vanish. The Elph 115 IS crosses this barrier at a relatively low setting; at ISO 400 images contain 1.7 percent noise, showing a good amount of grain but thankfully not losing too much in terms of detail. Pushing the camera to ISO 800 increases noise and begins to smudge away textures, but it's not until the maximum ISO 1600 that images become really muddy. We compared the photos with those from another camera that does a better job at higher ISO settings using a calibrated NEC MultiSync PA271W LCD display. The Canon PowerShot Elph 330 HS keeps noise under 1.5 percent through ISO 1600—that lets you shoot in about an quarter of the light as the Elph 115 IS and get similar results.

Video recording isn't the camera's strong suit. It's limited to 720p25 capture in QuickTime format, and while the footage looks OK, it's not great. Even under studio lights the footage looks grainy. You can zoom in and out while recording, and while the sound of the lens wasn't overbearing on the soundtrack, the general sound levels of the video were much lower than we're used to hearing. The camera includes a dedicated wall charger for its rechargeable battery. That's good news if you're the type of photographer who likes to carry a spare battery; you won't have to stop shooting while charging as you do with other models that require you to charge the battery inside the camera. The only interface port is a standard mini USB connector, and as usual SD, SDHC, and SDXC memory cards are supported by the Elph.

The Canon PowerShot Elph 115 IS is a very good camera when used in bright light. If you're going to be shooting indoors at home, though, expect to rely on the flash for illumination, as the camera struggles mightily at higher sensitivities. If you're on a budget, you may find that the Canon PowerShot A1400 is a better choice; its 5x zoom isn't quite as ambitious at the 8x lens found in the 115 IS, and you'll have to go back to using AA batteries to power it—but it includes an optical viewfinder, image quality and performance are on par, and it sells for a little bit over $100. If you can stretch your budget, the $230 PowerShot Elph 330 HS is a much more versatile camera—one that does much better in low light and packs built-in Wi-Fi.

Senior digital camera analyst for the PCMag consumer electronics reviews team, Jim Fisher is a graduate of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he concentrated on documentary video production. Jim's interest in photography really took off when he borrowed his father's Hasselblad 500C and light meter in 2007. He honed his writing skills at retailer B&H Photo, where he wrote thousands upon thousands of product descriptions, blog posts, and reviews. Since then he's shot with hundreds of camera models, ranging from pocket point-and-shoots to medium format...
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